MNS leader Amit Thackeray launches beach clean-up campaign in Maharashtra

Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) leader and party chief Raj Thackeray's son Amit Thackeray on Saturday launched a clean-up campaign at over 40 beaches across Maharashtra, including in Mumbai. Amit was seen partaking in 'clean up the beach' event at Dadar beach. MNS took to their verified Twitter handle and shared a series of pictures from their clean-up drive. 

The pictures show a number of people who took part in a beach clean-up drive at Girgaon, Dadar, Mahim, Bandra, Versova, Juhu, Aksa and other key beaches of the state. Maharashtra has a coastline of over 700 Kms.

Taking to the micro-blogging platform, MNS posted a series of pictures where Amit Thackeray can be seen collecting garbage from the beach in black bags to dispose of them. As per the pictures, even amidst concerns over the Omicron variant of COVID, a large number of people had gathered to participate in the drive at Dadar beach.

Sharing the pictures, the committee wrote in Marathi, "The endless Arabian Sea on one side and the sea on the other! Maharashtra Navnirman Sena leader Shri. On the occasion of the beach cleaning campaign being implemented under the leadership of Amitji Thackeray, this enchanting view can be seen on 40 beaches along the coast of the state."

The pictures also show children participating in the drive and collecting garbage. With Amit Thackeray in the lead, the clean-up drive was carried out on 720 km long coastline in the state. The campaign included 40 beaches from Talakkonam to Palghar Mumbai, three beaches in Sindhudurg, six in Ratnagiri, six in Raigad, three in Palghar, and six in Mumbai. In the pictures, MNS leader Amit Thackeray can also be seen inspecting the Mandvi beach before launching the clean-up campaign.

Amit Thackeray's foray into politics

Amit entered mainstream politics on January 23, 2020, on Shiv Sena founder Bal Thackeray's 94th birth anniversary. His father Raj Thackeray had exited the Shiv Sena party in the year 2005 after his uncle Bal Thackeray picked his son Uddhav to be his successor instead of Raj. Before joining politics, Amit occasionally campaigned for the MNS.

Despite his formal induction in the MNS and his appointment as a 'neta,' Amit has not been overly vocal in politics and often stood away from the public eye. Since his formal political launch, Amit has intermittently penned letters to his uncle, CM Thackeray, on various pertaining issues like declaring journalists as frontline workers for their early vaccination during a severe shortage of vaccines, initiating talks with private schools about their fees amid the novel pandemic.

Amit is also known for making public statements voicing his support to bonded doctors and nurses protesting salary cuts, and government teaches asking to meet their demands.

Image: Twitter/@mnsadhikrut